Why I Have No Interest In Buying The adidas Yeezy 350 Boost (Or Any Other Yeezy)

Jun 24, 2015

As I’m writing this feature, I got Kanye’s College Dropout album playing on my iTunes. Damn, that was a dope album. I used to love Kanye. His music and message was always refreshing. It was uplifting. His mood was always positive even when there was nothing to be positive about.

You could even say that at one point in my life Kanye West was considered my favorite rapper from the 2000s.

What happened?!

Don’t get me wrong; his music is still good, in a darker and twisted kind of way (no pun intended), but his persona changed and completely did a 180. Many people speculate that the passing of his mother and grandma may have something to do with his change, but I’m not here to find out why Kanye is no longer Kanye, I’m here to let you know why I won’t ever buy a Kanye West shoe, in this particular case, the adidas Yeezy 350 Boost.

The new Kanye is everything that the old Kanye used to preach against.

“Yeezus”, whether it’s who Kanye is now or a persona he created, is disrespectful, arrogant, boastful, cocky, presumptuous – basically everything your mother taught you not to be when you were growing up. That being the case, why would I ever consider buying a product sponsored by someone who represents all of these attributes? Your music may be good, but it’s going to take a lot more than that for me to ever buy your sneakers.

When I’m in the hunt for a new pair of sneakers, I personally take into account who and what that shoe represents. I assume many people buy Kobes because they like Kobe. People buy John Wall sneakers because they support and are fans of John Wall, and of course the majority of the people who buy Jordans probably think highly of MJ. Same goes with Kanye. I dislike his persona and his new identity. I don’t care how “hyped” your shoes are, there is no way I’m going to buy something from someone I don’t favor and strive not to be.

Which brings me to my next point as to why I won’t be trying to buy the adidas yeezy 350 Boost.

They’re atrocious! They literally look like a shoe version of a sock monkey!

ebay

I hear people complaining that a pair of Roshe Runs retailing at $75 is a ripoff because it’s essentially a sock glued on to a sole. The adidas Yeezy 350 Boost is priced at $200. $200! Isn’t this type of lifestyle shoe the same thing as the Roshe? Granted, it does have the Boost technology on the sole, but is that enough to warrant the $200 price tag? Nope! This shoe costs more money than a Jordan retro. You know, those same retros that keep rising in price every single year for the last couple years! Even after all those Jordan price increases, the adidas Yeezy 350 Boost will still cost you more than a pair of Chicago 1s, 11 Low Breds, or the Oreo 4s! What justifies the $200 price tag?!

There’s nothing innovative or mind-blowing about this shoe. It doesn’t carry a “wow” factor, and quite honestly, it’s a pretty lazy design on adidas and Kanye’s part.

The adidas Yeezy 350 Boost is going to sell out instantly on Saturday, even if I don’t buy a pair. In spite of all of that, I get a sense of satisfaction knowing I didn’t help support who and what Kanye personifies and portrays to be. I was raised better than that.

I could think of dozens of things to do with those $200, not one of them consists of supporting Kanye West and his bad looking sneaker (did I mention that the Yeezy Uggs 750 Boost is far more atrocious?). As a matter of fact, come Saturday, instead of dropping two bills on a pair of shoes, I’m taking my family out for a nice dinner while rocking a pair of Nike Roshe Runs – hell, I might even throw on a pair of adidas (so you know it’s not brand bias) Pure Boosts just to keep things interesting.

Let me conclude this feature with the following question.

If Kanye was more of an appealing/likable artist, do you think his shoes would be more or less hyped compared to What they are today?

This should be interesting. Drop your opinion in a comment below and let’s get a good discussion going!